He Walks
by Avathar904
Summary: Vincent and what has been going on in the three years that have passed since The Omega Incident.
1. Chapter 1

Walking.

If any one of his old comrades had asked him what he had been doing since the Omega Incident that would have been the only way to describe it. He had walked away after the Jenova War, he walked away after the Remnants and he finished off his current streak by walking away after Omega. It was what he was and still is good at, leaving, leaving without a trace after; a successful mission, target acquisition, a battle or whatever might come his way. He walked to keep those closest to him safe because those who stayed near him never stayed with the living, even before Shinra.

Vincent Valentine looked around for what felt like the first time in a long while. He sniffed the air, their habits still affected him, even though he had gone without transforming since the Omega Incident over 3 years ago. He saw what looked like Edge, but it had become even more of a bustling city in his time away. The idea of stopping over there hurt his ears, head and eyes but he had no other options with the wound on his side. He continued to walk towards Edge, and all that came with it causing more than a bit of irritation and pain to his senses. He pushed through until he found the Inn closest to the edge of town, and secured a small room with bathroom. He stepped into the room, checking corners and without turning on the lights made his way to the bathroom. After stepping in he turned on the hot water in the shower and began stripping down. Pulling off his blood soaked jacket and shirt, leaving him standing there in his boots and pants, he looked to the mirror and after adjusting it so he could see the deep gash that ran down on his side from chest to his hip bone. Peeling it back and cleaning it out with water Vincent made no noise other than an increase in his rate of breathing. While pulling his wound apart with his claw and cleaning it with his hand he pulled out a few pine needles and no small amount of debris. He stepped over to the tub turning the shower on and stepped into the warm spray, working the dirt off the wound and making sure it was clean, he grabbed his duffel off the counter to pull out a clean shirt. Working carefully as to not reopen the wound he cut the clean white undershirt into strips so that he could bind the wound. Setting each one up and drawing it tight he couldn't help but gasp slightly, the air hitting his lungs in the strangest way as he set the final strip of cloth in to place and passed out promptly on the floor.

Waking up sometime later Vincent felt as stiff as if he had never left that gods forsaken coffin, standing up slowly he checked his wound in the mirror. It had already started to stitch itself together, the flesh slowly looking less and less mangled. With no sign of infection he moved his duffel out of the bathroom and put it on the bed. Looking over at the clock he found that only 8 hours had passed since checking in and it was blessedly getting dark outside and a little bit more quiet than when he had first arrived. The odd car driving by with the occasional shout, what had once been a familiar and comfortable back drop to his old life had become almost unbearable with his augmentation. He sat down on the corner of the bed, trying to piece together the events that had led up to this moment in his head.

A/N:

I don't know exactly where I'm going with this, I have no beta reader and it's coming by the seat of my pants. However, here is the opening Chapter for He Walks. Chapters will be uploaded as they happen.


	2. Chapter 2

Sitting on the corner of the bed, it slowly came back to him, after the past three years with no transformations and time enough to figure out all of the new changes that came with the augmented body that Hojo had so, graciously, gifted him. He had walked and walked until he finally came to the conclusion that the monsters who had once shared the same body with him must have been removed with Chaos at the same time that he had returned to the planet. While this was fortuitous for the Gunslinger, he did miss the occasional conversations he had with Chaos, who, for a harbinger of death was rather well versed in many subjects.

Vincent shook his head, trying to stay focused, it was always difficult to stay focused after an injury as large as the one he had received earlier on. His body's healing factor combined with the lack of food made him feel sluggish, as if he were trying to do a hundred things at once. He looked over at the duffle and decided to clean himself up, so that he would be able to retrieve food without arousing too many curious eyes. Something about a bronze claw for a hand and red eyes always made him stand out more than he had ever wanted.

He scoffed, wondering if he had ever in his life wanted to stand out of a crowd, before the augmentation it was bad enough that he was 6'4" but now with his new features he stood out no matter where he went.

Vincent grabbed a clean white undershirt, a black button up, a clean pair of trousers, socks and his always reliable steel toe boots. Showering quickly, he lathered up with the hotel shampoo and soap which both smelled of citrus and thankfully not in an unpleasant way. After washing up and drying off, he got dressed quickly leaving the bandana in his pocket for when his hair finally dried. He walked down the stairs to the exit of the Inn, letting his noise and stomach decide where to go eat. With his unusual physiology he had begun to rely on his nose to tell him what was ok to eat and what would leave him heaving his guts out until the wee hours of the morning. He wandered down a few roads and back alleys until he found somewhere that smelt right, wandering in without bothering to check the name of the place, he found himself in a small bar with tables in the center, a bar top stretching across the back wall with six full shelves of liquor and a grinning Bartender. On the opposite side were a few booths that seemed reasonably quiet, the last thing he wanted to do was disturb others in their own worlds.

The bartender watched as the tall dark haired stranger looked around trying to decide where to sit.

After the stranger had wandered over to a booth and settled in, he walked over with a menu and said, "Hello Sir, my name is John, what can I get you to drink today?"

The stranger replied, "Just water please."

Nodding the bartender said, "You got it, be back with your water and to take your order."

Vincent sat there, looking over the menu trying to figure out what exactly he could eat. Looking up at the movement he caught out of the corner of his eye he saw a Brunette with medium length hair, just down past the shoulders tied back in a low pony tail. Even with his muddled senses and the gnawing reminder that he had last eaten a week ago, he recognized her immediately. It was Tifa Lockhart, he pulled the menu up slightly and made sure his left arm was tucked away hoping he could manage to sneak out quietly without being noticed. He knew that he had not come to Edge in search of old comrades, at least that's what his gut told him. He allowed himself a small hmph, he always did have the worst luck, especially when it came to avoiding trouble. Looking around from behind the menu he located the best avenue for escape, waiting for Tifa to turn her back on him long enough to slip away.

She walked the same route she always did to the bar, stopping along the way to say hello to the elderly couple, sitting on their porch enjoying the cool evening air, they had always needed help around springtime with their garden and she was always happy to help. She was glad that she had finally decided to move the bar out from under her home, they were finally making enough to afford to have a bar and living area separate. The walk from home always helped her put her game face on for work, with this being a busy Friday and having had one of the servers call out she decided to go in on an off day to help. Normally she only worked the slow parts of the day to lower cost and because it gave her something to do with Denzel at the WRO boarding school and Marlene was finally living with Barrett. She chuckled, that man had his hands full with the ten year old and soon enough she was sure that she would be becoming more and more trouble as time went on.

Finding herself at the bar, she walked in, looking around it didn't seem too busy but it was still early on Friday night. Only one booth had someone in it, the bar top was getting nicely crowded though and it was only a matter of time until the younger crowd came in. John nodded to her and they began talking about what was needed for the bar. She made a mental note to order the items needed and began talking to the regulars to see if they needed anything and to say hello. After that she headed to the back and said hello to Cookie, the monster of a man they had hired as a chef, who set the order out for service as they chatted about the day and what else needed to be ordered. On the way out of the kitchen she grabbed the food, checking the ticket, she walked it over to the couple sitting at one of the tables near the booths.

Vincent watched her walk into the kitchen, waited for a minute and began his tactical retreat out of the bar. Making it out quickly, he managed to escape without detection. Still hungry he looked around looking for anything else at all that was open for food, before he ended up having to head back out and hunt it down himself. He couldn't see much of anything nearby, feeling loath to venture any further into the city he started making his way around the bar to the other side to see what else might be there. Distracted and tired as he was he almost didn't hear the back door of the bar opening behind him, leaping up he landed on the roof without a sound and turned back around to see who it was. Of course, it was her, taking the trash out before starting her shift in earnest. He watched her move with a grace that told him she was keeping up with her training as much if not more than during the Jenova Wars, she never was a person who could slack off, after all.

Tifa tossed the garbage bag into the dumpster and looked around the backside of the bar, making sure that no vagrants or drunks had decided it was the spot for a nap. Seeing no one she stretched and started to walk back into the bar. Once back behind the bar she noticed John dumping a half full glass of water into the sink and putting a menu away. She shrugged and started to wipe down a part of the bar top while wondering what she was going to do with Denzel for his weekend, although knowing the young teen, he would likely want to spend time with friends and not her. The unfortunate realities of teenagedom she chuckled to herself.

Vincent visibly relaxed after she walked back into the bar, letting out a breath he hadn't even known he had been holding he leapt down and made his way back to the hotel. Stopping off at a convenience store on the way back to grab something he could eat, he decided that perhaps he should avoid most places in Edge to avoid running into people like that. Back tucked away in his room at the Inn he ate the few protein bars he had picked up and thought about what exactly he was doing in Edge in the first place. Monsters or not, he still was a danger to those around him.

Thankfully with food in his stomach he could finally think again, remembering his original goal on making it to Edge. With the way that the WRO was expanding and ID cards were once again becoming commonplace, he needed Reeve's help to make his own. He had thought about getting a forged ID but he could only imagine the problems he would have if it was ever discovered with the way that he looked. Being declared dead and looking the same as he did over 40 years ago was not conductive to him being able to get his own unfortunately. Digging through the duffel he found the PHS he had purchased and the charger, plugging it in he got ready for bed and went to sleep. His last thought being to visit Reeve as soon as possible, so that he could get back on the road and away from all this noise.

A/N:

Alright, I got an idea! So, we are gonna see what kind of trouble Vincent gets in so that he can avoid trouble later on!


	3. Chapter 3

Vincent woke up, feeling more human than he had in the past few years. Sleeping in a bed, he supposed, would do that to you. Picking himself out of bed he wandered to the bathroom and got ready for the day, quickly dressing after checking that his wound was mostly healed up. Seeing that his new PHS was ready, he turned it on and dialed the number he had memorized for Reeve. It rang until he got a voicemail for someone who was definitely not Reeve, judging by the tone and pitch it may have been a young girl or woman.

He shrugged, it had been over three years since talking to Reeve, even more since he had everyone's phone numbers. He should have thought about the possibility that Reeve had changed his number but with all the new technology, he found himself overwhelmed most days.

Sitting on the corner of the bed he thought through the possible actions he could take. He could go speak to Tifa now that he knew where she was, but that would be dragging another person into something he should handle with as little inconvenience to others as possible. It was bad enough he had to ask Reeve to help him on this but gone were the days that he could break into the records office and just add a few files. The next option was to break into the WRO itself and see if he could find Reeve, this too would add a level of difficulty and a level of danger to others. He shook his head, why not just walk up to the front gate of the WRO complex and ask for Reeve, surely he would be able to speak to the man if he gave the guard his name.

Standing up he resolved himself to this course of action, he still remembered where the headquarters was but he would double check with the Innkeeper on the way out. Gathering his belongings in his duffel he checked out of the Inn and confirmed the location of the WRO.

Walking into the sunlight he squinted and figured out the direction he needed to go. Heading out that way, he found himself assailed by an enormous amount of smells, sounds and sights. Wandering in the correct general direction but using side streets and alleys to stay away from the most rambunctious of areas he soon found himself in front of the WRO. It was bigger than he remembered, Barracks and office buildings all grouped together and one very impressive wall and gate in front of him.

He saw that the gate had an entryway just for visitors. He approached it and was immediately stopped by a young soldier who asked for his Identification and justification for entry. Vincent stopped and looked at the soldier, "I'm here to speak to Reeve," he said. The soldier looked him up and down, "Well good for you buddy, I still need your ID and the justification for entry." Vincent replied, "I don't have ID and as of right now that is the reason I need to speak to Reeve. My name is Vincent Valentine, could you please let Reeve know I am here to see him?" The soldier looked him up and down, "Who?" He replied. Vincent shook his head slightly, of course they wouldn't know him by name, he wished he still had his old fighting outfit, but it had unfortunately been destroyed over the past few years. He looked the solider up and down, he could easily get past him and to Reeve but hurting people who didn't deserve it no longer sat right with him.

He responded, "I need to speak to Reeve Tuesti, please call him and inform him that Vincent Valentine is here, he will know who I am." The solider shook his head, "Sir, I'm not bothering the head of the WRO just because some random person came up and said he needed to speak to him." Vincent sighed, thinking through his options, he decided to try to reason with the Soldier. "If you aren't willing to bother him, might I be allowed to use your phone to call him? I do not wish to be delayed any longer."

The soldier shook his head, "No, that's not going to be happening." He paused noticing the odd color of the eyes and bronze appendage, "in fact Sir, I'm going to have to ask you to leave if you do not have any ID on you. Please come back with that and I might be able to help you."

Vincent started to get frustrated, the looks at the eyes and arm had not gone without notice. He thought about what he might have done to handle this as a Turk, but quickly strayed from that thought as he had an idea that Reeve wouldn't take kindly to him abusing the Solider. He finally decided that if they gate guard wouldn't help him, he would have to find his own way in. "Understandable, I will be back later then. "

The soldier nodded, visibly relieved that the strange man was leaving, even five years after Meteor they still had some weirdos who came to the gate and wanted access without reason. He logged the event and went back to standing his post.

Vincent walked along the wall until he was out of view of the gate. Looking around briefly he found a spot that the cameras had a brief delay on overlapping. A quick glance around and with a quick jump he found himself on the wall, scouting out where he needed to go from there he jumped out and down to a rooftop. Thankfully, landing without a noise and slipping down quickly he sat crouched next to a door on the backside of a building. Waiting for sounds of detection, and hearing none, he turned his attention to his surroundings. He was in a small alley, the backsides of Barracks, a chow hall and an armory from the sounds of it.

He stayed crouched thinking of the path of least resistance for him, duffel still on his back, he had an idea. Slipping inside one of the barracks, he looked for some kind of base map or directory. Finding one and looking up where the Uniform Depot was, he slipped the directory into his bag and began making his way there. Walking with a purpose and sticking to the less populated areas he was able to make it over, slipping in the door he began searching for a uniform that would fit. Finding a Lieutenants uniform that fit well he slipped his old clothes off and popped on the new ones, thanking his stars that the uniform hadn't changed since The Omega Incident. Now disguised as a Lieutenant, he walked out and carrying his duffel, headed towards the building that Reeve worked out of.

Finding himself in front of the building, he walked in, the lack of key cards for entry made him think that the WRO had started to get a little too cocky on security. Then again, most people couldn't jump onto a thirty foot wall and over the mines that lined the first twenty feet of the inside of the wall. Vincent immediately regretted that thought, as he saw only the first floor was un-badged access, the rest required a key card of some sort. Looking around he spotted a help desk of sorts, a few WRO members milling about and of all things a wall of pictures from the various events the WRO had helped with over the years. Looking at the soldiers showed that the keycards were clipped on to the front left lapel of the uniform, making his way through the crowd he found a few middle rank individuals who he might be able to borrow the keycard from. He made a quick bump and grab on the one that seemed the most inattentive, clipping the keycard onto his own lapel he quickly made his way over to the elevator nearest to him. Swiping the badge and stepping in, he made his way to the highest floor the badge allowed, Reeve was located only a floor above thankfully. Stepping off the elevator into what would have looked like any other office building if it wasn't for the uniforms, he quickly scanned around trying to see who might have the badge he needed. Unfortunately, he didn't spot any in his immediate area, so he began working his way through the hallways trying to find a way up to the next floor.

Wandering through the maze of hallways and doors, he found an empty conference room and decided to stop in there to try and figure out what to do next. He didn't know what the badge he needed looked like so stealing it would probably take no small amount of trial and error. Multiple badges going missing at the same time would tip just about anyone off to what he was doing. If he had Chaos, he could have just flown up, but that was no longer an option. So, that left him with the sub ceiling and finding a way up that was not badge dependent. The sub ceiling was a route for the movies and he doubted it would hold his weight in most spaces, so that left finding an emergency exit, or something else that he could trick his way through.

These were the times that Vincent always missed the past, back when he was a Turk this would have been much more simple. A lock pick set, patience and looking like he was supposed to be there got him into most places. Nowadays everywhere had badges, electronically controlled locks, eye readers, all sorts of technology that made getting in much more difficult than before. He shook his head, he needed to stay on task, making his way out of the conference room he walked until he found the emergency exit stairs. They had some kind of electronic alarming system but they were still always unlocked. He walked over, waiting for the moment that he could slip through and make a break for Reeve's office. With these doors being run off of two magnets staying together, he simply grabbed the two with his claw and held them together as he pushed the door open. The magnet shearing off the door easily and staying attached without raising the alarm. He quickly made his way in and closed the door behind him, staying out of view of the security cameras as best he could, he made his way to the next level. This door, he noticed had the alarm unit visible, looking it over quickly he found the batteries that powered the unit and pulled them out. Pulling out his lock pick set, he quickly unlocked the door and made his way in once it was quiet on the other side. Once in, he made his way to Reeve's office, the secretary greeting him with the typical. "Hello Sir, do you have a meeting with Mr. Tuesti?" He ignored her and simply opened the door to Reeve's office, closing it behind him in her face as she tried to stop him.

Reeve looked up from his lunch at the sound of the door opening and closing, swallowing his half chewed food down he made to chastise the person entering while he was trying to eat and promptly choked on the food he was trying to swallow. Vincent Valentine, a living and breathing Vincent at that, was standing in front of him holding the door shut as his secretary tried to get in.

A/N: So, here we go, finally Vincent made it up to Reeve. Please read and review, and if you would like to beta read this stuff send me a PM on here. I could use a Beta Reader! Hopefully you guys enjoy this!


End file.
